Quasi-Live Westerdam Oct 1st Japan

[Hlitner]

8 hours ago, Riversedge said:

Thanks for the answer to my question, Hank.  This is what my research found although HAL says visa required for there and Shanghai.  I don’t believe they have that right in either case.  It would be nice if they could give us clear and correct information.  Appreciate your help.  

Since I have already said enough bad stuff about HAL (DW will no longer allow me to even consider booking HAL) all I will add is that I am not surprised that HAL would have the VISA info wrong.  In their defense (and I seldom defend HAL) the requirements, for some countries, seem to change with the phases of the moon.

 

Hank

[Ferry_Watcher]

Sakaiminato, Japan - my Sunday, your Saturday.

 

It was another beautiful day.  Today we traveled to the Adachi Museum of Art.  It is known for it's art collection, and probably even more for its garden.  It has been voted best garden in Japan for 20 consecutive years, and it listed as 3-star Michelin Green Guide Japan.  Just a side note, this was a last minute excursion pick, based on the description and photos that we saw during Cruise Director Nick's presentation, and I am so glad that we booked it.

 

It certainly lived up to its ratings!

 

This was a four hour tour total, for about $200 each.  It was an hour drive each way, and two hours to explore the museum and look at the gardens.  The interesting thing about the gardens are that they are part of the museum exhibit, which means that these picture perfect gardens are viewed from the inside looking out, as if they were a masterpiece on canvas.

So these gardens are to be looked at, not walked thru.  There are areas that you can step out of the building to enjoy the beauty and listen to the sounds of the water features, or just nature itself.

 

There is one large viewing room where the large windowpanes create a picture view.  While it may sound strange, it works.  DH was so taken with the gardens, (and we are not gardeners at home), that he bought a boxed set of pictures of the gardens four seasons.

 

The art collection is mostly the art of one modern time artist.  In addition, there was a separate room with just ceramics, and an annex with very large (5x5, 6x6) western style art, which we enjoyed as well.

 

The gift shop was well worth the visit, and there was a restaurant, and a tea restaurant that looked out on to the garden.  Surprisingly, it looked like we could have been seated at either restaurant, but didn't want to use up our touring time doing that.

 

There were lots of cars and buses in the parking lot, but the museum never felt crowded.

 

You can take a train to the museum, and the shuttle bus from the museum will transport you to the venue.  There is a sign that says that they can't guarantee that you will be able to get on the shuttle that you may want, so keep that in mind.

 

I highly recommend this visit  

 

 

 

 

[WriterOnDeck]

On 10/13/2023 at 8:35 PM, Ferry_Watcher said:

We got to MOO and EGG. Shopped at MOO but late afternoon so stores were closing. We got a beer and took the shuttle back to the ship

Just going back over your excellent descriptions as I start to think about my Majestic Japan cruise in a year.

 

When I was last in Kushiro (late 2018), we docked just 2-3 blocks from the MOO and EGG. It sounds like the ship docks somewhere else now if you need a shuttle. Can you confirm? We could easily walk to the fish market, which is what I've always done in Kushiro.

 

Thanks for clarifying!

[Ferry_Watcher]

17 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Just going back over your excellent descriptions as I start to think about my Majestic Japan cruise in a year.

 

When I was last in Kushiro (late 2018), we docked just 2-3 blocks from the MOO and EGG. It sounds like the ship docks somewhere else now if you need a shuttle. Can you confirm? We could easily walk to the fish market, which is what I've always done in Kushiro.

 

Thanks for clarifying!

Our ship was docked so far away from the EGG and MOO.  We were docked at the end of a very industrial part of the seaport.  It was a true no- man's land.  The bus took all kinds of turns within the seaport complex, so it would have been a miracle to find your way back to the ship, especially as dusk came early.

 

Docking by the MOI and EGG would have been so much better.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Today is Wednesday, we are back from today's port-of-call, sitting by the Lido Bar and I am drinking a glass of Domaine Ste Michelle Brut, think about how behind I am on my port descriptions.  😲

 

As I had mentioned much earlier, my fear that I didn't bring enough clothes for warm weather was correct.   The weather has been warm and sunny.  Low humidity, best time of year to be here, just not prepared for subtropical southern Japan. Having sunglasses and a hat is a must for me.  DH only has sunglasses, and wishes he had a foldable sun hat with a bit of a brim.

 

Living in the Seattle area, generally speaking, we don't have a lot of weather like we been having in this subtropical part of Japan.  I brought just one short sleeve shirt.  Lucky for me that it is one of those quick dry travel shirts.  So, even though we have the laundry package, I wore the shirt Tuesday, washed it in the sink, wore it again today (Wednesday), washed after getting back today, and you guessed it  - it's already been washed so I can wear it again tomorrow.  Luckily, Friday is a Sea day, so I don't have to worry about a short sleeve shirt that day.  And sadly, Saturday is disembarkation day.  😟😲

 

Also, I made the mistake of not bringing any Capri pants, but that isn't as problematic as the shirt situation.

 

The other thing that we are doing is taking full advantage of the laundry service, including having the shirts/tops that we won't be needing/using during the remaining cruise or our 3 days in Tokyo, we are having them returned to us folded, rather on hangers.  I thought it might make packing easier.

[Kristal Blade]

How brilliant to get such good weather, but you have solved the clothes issue with finesse! 
A great idea to get your laundry done, ready to pack. I love going home with minimal laundry to do but as we are only 2 ⭐️ we don’t have a laundry service! Maybe I will be able to do a stuff a bag offer, if it’s available.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, your updates have made excellent reading and you have given your readers loads of useful insider info about the ship and ports. Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Haljo1935]

59 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

How brilliant to get such good weather, but you have solved the clothes issue with finesse! 
A great idea to get your laundry done, ready to pack. I love going home with minimal laundry to do but as we are only 2 ⭐️ we don’t have a laundry service! Maybe I will be able to do a stuff a bag offer, if it’s available...

Before I began receiving laundry perks (best ever 😊) I always budgeted for laundry. Sometimes it was by the bag and sometimes unlimited, just depended on itinerary and weather, but HAL always does my laundry. If you roll then stack your items, you can fit an incredible amount of clothes in 1 bag, making even 1 bag a bargain. 🫣

[Ferry_Watcher]

Sasebo, Japan - My Monday, your Sunday.  This was as awesome day.  We had probably the best guide, and super enjoyable excursion stops.  This might be due in part that most of the day was spent outside in beautiful weather.

 

We started with a drive up a mountain to an observation point at Daikai National Park - Mt. Yumihari Observatory.  This was a fairly narrow road with multiple hairpin turns.  Our group was pretty much up there by ourselves.  We saw the city, the port, lots of islands, and a dormant volcano.

 

After coming down the mountain, we went for a boat ride in the Kujukushima Islands (aka 99 Islands) I believe was based at the Pearl Resort.  The boat we were on looked to me as  what a Spanish Galleon would look like.  Obviously, it was created for tourism, and we (and everyone else on the tour) went to the upper outside deck and enjoyed the 50 minute boat ride.

 

Remember when I mentioned that South Korea really didn't have accommodations for physically challenged people?  Well, every stop on this excursion was what we (US) would call ADA compliant.  As I said we were 2 floors up to the main outside deck of this tour boat.   Well I turned around, and there was a woman in a wheelchair there.  The boat had an elevator.  I was so impressed.

 

Anyway, back to the cruise.  We cruised around some tiny islands, going thru some very narrow channels.  We could see the shallowness around these little islands 

It was so pretty, and again, the weather was amazing!

 

After getting off the boat, we made a beeline to the closest Sasebo Burger place.  We had 20 minutes to get back to the bus, and the vendor told us 10 minutes for the burger to be ready.  We decided to chance it, even though we knew if it was later than 10 minutes that we could not take it on the bus.  Luckily, the cook saw the line forming, and threw on burgers quickly as people ordered, so I think everyone from the bus that was in line got their burger.

 

What is a Sasebo Burger?  Well, apparently ground beef was introduced to the locals by the US Service personnel that were here after WWII. Only shops that are approved by the Sasebo Burger Association can sell official Sasebo Burgers.  There is an official sign that shows the mascot (Burger Boy).  So if you see that, you know that it is a real Sasebo Burger.

 

A Sasebo Burger has a small beef patty, bacon, fried egg, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and I'm not sure what, if anything more.  Glad I tried it.

 

After getting back on the bus, we headed to the Saikai bridge to view the tidal swirls that happen when there is a narrow pass.  Our guide told us that there is often times a large swirl, but it wasn't present when we were there - just smaller swirls.  The cool part of this stop was that we viewed this phenomena from just underneath a high four lane car bridge.  We walked along a boardwalk (ADA compliant) to a very large walkway that spanned the length of the bridge.  I believe that this is just open to the public, as I didn't see anywhere that an individual had to pay.  It was just one of those experiences that most folks don't have have an opportunity to experience (walking underneath a bridge).

 

It was a great day, great weather, and a great guide 

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 hour ago, Kristal Blade said:

How brilliant to get such good weather, but you have solved the clothes issue with finesse! 
A great idea to get your laundry done, ready to pack. I love going home with minimal laundry to do but as we are only 2 ⭐️ we don’t have a laundry service! Maybe I will be able to do a stuff a bag offer, if it’s available.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, your updates have made excellent reading and you have given your readers loads of useful insider info about the ship and ports. Thank you for your time and consideration.

We are just 2*Star folks, so we paid for unlimited laundry for the full 26 days.  Best thing ever!

[Ferry_Watcher]

41 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Before I began receiving laundry perks (best ever 😊) I always budgeted for laundry. Sometimes it was by the bag and sometimes unlimited, just depended on itinerary and weather, but HAL always does my laundry. If you roll then stack your items, you can fit an incredible amount of clothes in 1 bag, making even 1 bag a bargain. 🫣

And having the laundry package is good for your relationship with your traveling companion!  😉

[Ferry_Watcher]

Nagasaki - my Tuesday, your Monday.  We boarded our bus and headed out to start our excursion.  Our first stop was the Nagasaki Peace Park.  There were saw the very tall iconic peace statue of a male figure seated, eyes closed, one arm upright, fingers pointed upwards, his other arm appearing to be outreached, palm down as if moving that arm across the ground under him, and while seated, the statue has one foot on the ground, the other crossed in front of him, as if he was ready to stand up.

 

As our guide began to explain the statue (the peaceful countenance, finger pointing to the sky where the danger came, the movement of the downward palm for peace and calm, the crossed leg in a meditation pose, and the foot on the ground rooted in the earth, but ready to stand to help),  I found myself tearing up.  Nagasaki was not the first choice for the bombing, a nearby city was (not that it mattered), but clouds obscured it.  The plane carrying Fat Man was running low on fuel, and they were going to have to use radar to figure when to drop it, when there was a clearing and the bomb was dropped.  If there was any saving grace, the city of Nagasaki is surrounded by hills and mountains on three sides, and that helped contain the shockwaves.

 

We continued to tour the park, looking a the memorials given as gifts by other countries.  Surprisingly, many of the closest memorials are from former communist countries (like East Germany, and other eastern bloc countries - our guide whispered that it was also a political 'dis' against the US).

 

As we finished up our Peace Park tour, we had to pass by the above mentioned statue of the seated man.  A very large group of Japanese school kids, (looked like Jr High kids on a school trip), were singing what our guide said was a song of peace.  Very moving 

 

Next the Atomic Bomb Museum.

[Ferry_Watcher]

After the Nagasaki Peace Park we boarded the bus and drove to the Atomic Bomb Museum.  Along the way we passed a Catholic church,  Urakami Cathedral, that had been heavily damaged in the bombing.  Part of the charred stone entrance is on display in the Atomic Bomb Museum.

 

The museum exhibits include artifacts from the blast (everyday items melted from the blast, like bottles, dishes, clothing, metal coins, etc),and photos of the devastation, like buildings, trees, walls, etc, and sadly what was left of bodies.  Thankfully, it wasn't gruesome, but it was still powerful.  

.

The museum also did a great job tracing the evolution of the atomic/nuclear bomb, from the research of the German scientists, thru the US decision to deploy it (and all the pushback from many US agencies and consulting scientists that were against using the bomb).  US intelligence also had determined that Japan most likely would have surrendered by December that year, and possibly by November 1st.

 

At the end of the exhibit, there was a large space dedicated to both the proliferation of nuclear weapons since 1945, and the peace movement to ban them.

 

The museum was quite busy with lots of Westerdam passengers, Japanese and other Asian visitors, and lots of school groups.  It was very congested in the first few rooms, then it opened up and the flow was better.

 

It's one of those places that really make you think, and you have a better understanding of the dilemma world leaders face. More people should have an opportunity to see this 

 

Also, it dawned on me that we were actually at the museum during that time, just past 11am when the bomb detonated 78 years plus a couple of months ago.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Ferry_Watcher

[Ferry_Watcher]

From the Atomic Bomb Museum, we walked to Ground Zero.  There is a memorial, but it's rather subdued, almost nondescript. Ground zero is directly beneath the point at which the bomb was detonated, 1500+ feet in the air, for maximum impact.

 

What is interesting about the memorial is that on the side of a black marble crypt-like feature of the memorial, there is a yearly updated tally of those who were killed which include those folks who survived the blast, but suffered with radiation poisoning, but lived.  These folks are considered as casualties of the bomb blast was well.  It might be similar to the first responders who developed illnesses from the dust from the buildings coming down -They were victims also.

[Ferry_Watcher]

We ended our Nagasaki excursion on a happier note, at the top of an Observatory that looks out over the beautiful city Nagasaki has become.

 

Our excursion group was basically the only folks up there.  To get to the top after the gondola ride, there was an elevator (and two short flights of stairs to the outer observation deck), or you could wind your way up a easy circular ramp.  Tough guys could use stairs to get up there as well.

 

It was a nice way to end the excursion - beautiful views and peaceful surroundings.

[Riversedge]

It sounds like you only do HAL excursions.  Do you know what the circumstances were for people who wanted to get off and do their own?  Were these places walkable from the port or did HAL provide a shuttle to get away from the port?  This sounds like a fascinating place to visit and we plan to do so, but would like to do it on our own.  

[Ottawa traveller]

4 hours ago, Riversedge said:

It sounds like you only do HAL excursions.  Do you know what the circumstances were for people who wanted to get off and do their own?  Were these places walkable from the port or did HAL provide a shuttle to get away from the port?  T

I took a 28 day Japan cruise on the Westerdam in April. As there was a shortage of tour guides and very few excursions available, we had to do most of these ports on our own. The cruise director posted videos of where to go and how to get there for all of the ports.  We had only 6 sea days so she had very few live presentations and even those were recorded for viewing afterwards.  I look at the shore excursions and the Japan guide to see what is available and I plan my trips before I leave home.   I use Google Maps to figure out how to get places.  I downloaded  Google translate Japanese to my phone and learned how to use it and I didn't have any trouble getting around. Where shuttles were available there was usually a charge of about $10.00. 

[cruisemom42]

46 minutes ago, Ottawa traveller said:

Where shuttles were available there was usually a charge of about $10.00. 

 

Checking my notes from the April cruise, I had written that in a few places the port offered a shuttle and in those cases it was free. When HAL offered a shuttle it was usually $20 to $25 per person. 

[Ottawa traveller]

6 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Checking my notes from the April cruise, I had written that in a few places the port offered a shuttle and in those cases it was free. When HAL offered a shuttle it was usually $20 to $25 per person. 

Thanks for correcting this.

[Ferry_Watcher]

11 hours ago, Riversedge said:

It sounds like you only do HAL excursions.  Do you know what the circumstances were for people who wanted to get off and do their own?  Were these places walkable from the port or did HAL provide a shuttle to get away from the port?  This sounds like a fascinating place to visit and we plan to do so, but would like to do it on our own.  

It very much depended on the location. Some were walkable, some were free or low cost (500 yen each way), some were $25 for RT shuttles. In retrospect, we would do Hakodate (and did for our bonus day due to the next port being cancelled), Nagasaki, and Miyako at least on our own. Days like ours in  Sokcho, Sakaiminato, and Sasebo would be tough on your own. It really depends what you want to see, distances, all-aboard time, and public transportation availability.  Also, remember that the days are shorter, with sunset this time of year around 6-6:30.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Real time update - it is Friday, and we will be disembarking tomorrow heading off to Tokyo for a few days.

 

Re laundry - we sent out (luckily) all of our laundry yesterday, rather than chance it not being available to send out the day before disembarking.  Our laundry was always returned the evening of the day we sent it out, with one exception which included some special instructions.  The laundry that we sent out yesterday morning didn't come back until this morning, basically in time to pack it up in to our luggage.  Also, new laundry bags always come back with the clothes, so I assume the message is no laundry (generally) available the day before disembarkation.  This isn't totally surprising, and it makes sense.  We had a few items that we would have sent out today,  but instead we did a small sink wash, and put them on hangers on the back of our balcony chairs.  Having an Aft stateroom, it was really hot on the balcony, and half the items were dry in a few hours.

 

So far packing has gone well.  We are traveling light, with each of us having a carry-on size (22" inch), along with an overnight bag that slides onto my suitcase handle. In the overnight bag I packed all the clothes for three nights in Tokyo, as well as the flight home.  The carry-on bag has everything else.

 

So far we have bought gifts made from cloth (fancy shopping bags, little purses, etc), and some inexpensive necklaces.  All small and light.  We do plan to buy some delicious cookie cakes from the duty free shop at the airport.  We did this last year, and also used these as gifts 

 

I think in an earlier post I mentioned the number of books I had brought, and how little reading I had done.  Well, I finished two books (one today), and as my plan, I donated all the books to the library (except the CC member recommended Cruise Confidential tell all book).  Hopefully, someone else will enjoy them.

 

 

[Kristal Blade]

Thank you for all the posts, Ferry-Watcher,

you have given us all a really fascinating read with so much detail.

I will be checking out the library in March, but I suspect your books may have been picked up and hopefully replaced!

Thank you for the laundry info, I suspect we will send ours out too because we have some time in Yokohama post cruise as well as Tokyo pre cruise.

Enjoy your time ashore and thanks again,

Libby

[Ferry_Watcher]

Port-of-call, Kagoshima.  This was a HAL excursion day, and well worth it.

 

We got a very early start, 8 am.  We boarded the the bus and headed to Sakurajima Island where there is an active volcano.  To get to the island, our bus drove on to one of the local ferries, and it was a 15 minute ride.  Being from Washington State, we have an extensive ferry system, so it was a very familiar experience,  but for others it was a cool experience.   As we drove from the port, we could see steam (white plumes that looked like clouds) coming from the back of the peak.  Once we were on the Island, the plume became continuous, and driving off into a long trailing plume. We were told that it isn't considered an eruption unless the plume reaches 1000 ft above the volcano.  The plume that we saw didn't go anywhere near that high.

 

The bus drove us up to a visitor parking area, and it was a moderate walk up various sets of stairs to reach a couple different viewing platforms.  Around 1914 (I think), there was a very big eruption, and you can see traces of it from around the island.  We also saw concrete eruption shelters along the road, which would shield you from hot ash.  These shelters looked like 3 sided lean-tos or large concrete pipes.

 

We walked to the two observation areas, passing along the way a old large lava rock where folks would leave a coin.  Maybe as a thanks for keeping us safe while we were there?

 

After leaving the volcano viewing area, we stopped at a public foot bath.  It was located on the side of the road, and in addition to the footbath, there were trails ( one called the Nagisa Lava Trail).  I don't think that the foot bath was mentioned in the excursion details, so maybe it was a bonus stop 

 

The foot bath consisted of 3 long, narrow concrete troughs that had geothermal hot water (like hot tub hot).  Along the troughs there were wooden slate seating, with space wide enough on either side of you that you could swing your legs around in either direction without hitting the person next to you.  The troughs were about 24/30 inches wide.  The seats on the other side were diagonally across, so you were not looking directly at anyone.  Beyond the foot baths was a large slightly sloping field, and beyond that was the sea.  It was very fun, and relaxing.

 

Our tour guide came by with paper towels so we could dry our feet when we had to leave.

 

(I went back and checked about the foot bath being listed.  Apparently, the museum at the upcoming Sengan-en Garden was closed for renovations, so the foot bath was substituted).

 

After we had left the foot bath, we could still view the volcano, and noticed that the plume coming out had turned from all white steam to a darker and larger plume.  Still later, while back on the ship, before sail-away there was no  visible steam/plume.

 

Then it was back to the ferry for our 15 minute sailing.  From there it was a drive to the Sengan-en Garden.  By the time we got to the garden, it was really hot, and the garden didn't seem to offer any shade.  But, there were some very nice gift shops and eateries, included ice cream, mochi rice balls, teas, etc.  The idea of being in the sun and heat didn't appeal to us, so we decided to take the hour and a half and we hung out in the shade of the shops.  We had sweet potato ice cream, mochi rice balls in a soy /honey sauce that apparently was favored by the samurai warriors, and we shopped a bit.  For us it was a good decision, especially with the heat.

 

We had another great send off from the local folks.  It was a marching band, that not only played, but did college marching band level precision marching.  Again, so much fun, and really appreciated by the Westerdam passengers.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Ferry_Watcher

[Ferry_Watcher]

I am going to skip over my Thursday (last port-of-call day), and jump forward to Friday our last Sea Day, and the day before we disembarked the ship.  I will update the port-of-call day later 

 

It was another beautiful sunny day.  I mentioned earlier that we ended up doing last minute laundry in the sink, and our aft balcony was so hot the clothes dried within a few hours 

 

We had a late lunch and while sitting outside in the direct sun was out of the question (and what shaded seating was already taken), we found seating by the Lido pool and hung out there.  I did enjoy a final Dive-In Hot Dog.  DH had a bite of mine, and ended up ordering one for himself.  

 

We stopped by the first set of the Jazz Band, Third Avenue West, for a final listen.  They are good, and they have really jelled as a band.   Dinner cocktails were at the Pinnacle Bar, and I think there were a fair number of folks who we didn't recognize.  I think it was folks who wanted to give it a try before disembarking, and there was one group of 6, just hanging out.  Some of the 'regulars' had trouble finding a seat   😂

 

Dinner in the main dining room was fine, sadly nothing special on the menu.  The staff around 8:30 did the walk thru parade to music, waving napkins, and the passengers waved and cheered the crew members.  It was fun, but sad thinking about getting off the ship the next day.

 

We decided to call it a night after dinner, getting back to our room about 8:45 pm.   We finished some nearly final packing, then turned in.

 

At about 9:30 pm, I was still awake, but I became aware of flashing lights outside.  Thinking it was the ship lights, I got up to investigate.  It was a huge thunder and lightning storm.  I actually went out on to the balcony, as the lightning seemed very far away.  We had an Aft stateroom, and the storm seemed all around us.  There was no rain, and after a while the thunder got louder, and I went back inside.  The lightning was both fork lighting, hitting the water, and cloud to cloud lightning.  There were big flashes as well.  Then, the wind started to howl.  It was freaky, but not scary.  The ship remained steady, and there didn't seem to effect the ship at all   it was pretty cool experience.

 

Then, another weird thing happened.  At 2:57 am, with both of us in bed, all the lights on our stateroom turned on by themselves.  Not sure how, or why, but it happened.  Our door was locked, in case you are wondering.

 

It was an interesting last night!

 

If some of this print is in a different color, it is unintentional.  For some reason my phone started printing in red.  Sorry!

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

Final ship port-of-call: Kochi (My Thursday).

 

The ship was docked a fair distance from anything, and quite a ways from the city center.  HAL offered a $25 shuttle, which was the easiest option for most folks.  Walking was not an option.

 

The shuttle dropped you off at a little bus depot, which also had a visitor info center and restrooms.  There were costumed folks there as  part entertainment, part  sharing tourist info.  The depot was walking distance from the blocks long covered shopping area, close to the Hirome Ichiba food court.  We did see a majority of the folks walking head in that direction, but we walked a couple of blocks and got on a tram (trolley).

 

We headed to the area where the Castle, and the Kochi Castle City Museum was located, as well as a park.

 

It was another very warm day, and there were many steps to get to the Kochi Castle.  Fortunately, we have been to other castles in Japan, and we really hadn't planned to go to this one.  We did visit the Museum.  As part of your entrance fee, you had the option of using the audio iPad that explained the exhibits, which was very informative.  I did notice that 3 different HAL excursion groups came and went during the entire time it took us to go through the exhibits while using the headphones.  By the time we finished, all the tour groups had gone, and the museum was very quiet.

 

After leaving the museum, we wandered back towards the food court, probably 1/3 mile away.  Just outside the food court building there was a covered, but outdoor ramen restaurant.  There were only a couple of people eating there, but we decided to see what was inside.  There were lots of little restaurants, tables, and lots of people - mostly locals, but a fair number of Westerners.  One restaurant that was very popular was located all the way back, and they served a 'dragon boat' filled with sushi and fish. The line was long, and DH had his heart set on ramen, so we decided to return to the Ramen place just outside.  Happy that we did, as it was quite good, and we got the last two seats.  ( There is only seating at the counter).   If you didn't want ramen, or if you wanted to try a variety of small things, you had that option as well.  It was fun to dine al fresco, but out of the sun's heat.

 

After lunch we walked about a block and into the blocks long covered shopping area.  Lots of shops, from a half dozen Family Marts,  to pastry shops, a department store, a school uniform store, and everything in between.  We weren't really looking for anything, but we did stop at the department store and DH picked up a couple of terrycloth backed hankies that he could use for drying his hands after using the public restrooms - everyone should have one if you visit Japan.  We also stopped at a donut shop and bought an assortment of mini donuts holes to try.    After that, we just slowly walked back towards the shuttle bus.  It was just before 4 pm when we arrived back at the Westerdam, and the ride back was about 20 minutes.

[travelholics]

54 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

The ship was docked a fair distance from anything, and quite a ways from the city center.  HAL offered a $25 shuttle, which was the easiest option for most folks.  Walking was not an option.

Really enjoyed your reports, thank you so much for your dedication. 

We are on Westerdam in March/April, so your information has been extremely useful. The $25 shuttle cost, was that each way or return? We have 2 visits to Kochi during the 28 day trip, did you hear of any other excursions people enjoyed? Safe journey home